I can't seem to find what I am seeking with a search, but I know this subject has been discussed among some 940 (9x19) owners. I am pretty sure I read where somebody had reported they fired .380 (and even some other stuff) from the 940. The case diameter and length is smaller/shorter on the 380 vs. the 9x19. I am just curious to see if I was day-dreaming....or folks are really shooting "various" stuff from their 9mm J-Frame?

I have the 940 Peformance Center version. It is chambered in .356TSW (9x21.5), but I mostly shoot 9mm out of it. Because the OAL is the same for both rounds, I suspect you may be able to shoot the TSW round in a standard 940. Now you've got ME curious.

Well....you know how it is.....boys-will-be-boys. The 940 is plenty strong to handle the load you mentioned, obviously so since you have one chambered in 9x21.

I am pretty sure I ran across a thread in here somewhere and there was a mention of someone shooting 380 (as well as other stuff). The 380 case is some .021 smaller in diameter. Why would I want to.....he!!....I don't know. This is just one of those fun threads.

One of the NRA Commandments is: "Know your gun and what ammo it takes". While a different round "may" fit, it isn't correct. Shoot what the gun was designed for.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Of course.....that is the common sense approach. I know what caliber is marked on the gun and that's what one should routinely shoot it. I said this is a "fun" thread. We have folks on here that shoot 38-Super from their non-modified stock 686...and 32ACP will work in any good 32 revolver. I'm just fishing...that's all.

I read the same thing. The thread I remember said they shot .380acp in their 940. It was said to be less punishing on the hand to use this round instead of 9mm for practice. Maybe so, but I think it would be a little more painful on the pocket.

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18-4, 15-4

I shoot .380 ACP in my 940. The fit in the moonclips is loose but when you get them all in at the same time the moonclip will hold them all together and they fire and extract perfectly. You won't be doing any speedloads though.

I feel that 9mm and .380 are common enough that I won't worry about firing any of the other cartridges. You'd be surprised what kind of velocity you can get with a properly handloaded 9mm cartridge in the 940.

Dave Sinko

There was recently a Model 60 on G-broker that TK Custom cut for moon clips and 9mm. He now can shoot .38, .380, or 9mm.

This is the stuff I was looking for. Not that I would shoot 380 as a matter choice, but one never knows what position he may be put in that may force him/her to shoot an alternate round.

I think I may be a bit cautious shooting a full-house 9mm in the M60 (or similar) j-frame 38 barrel. That 940 has a bull-barrel on it for a reason like the j-mags do. I am pretty sure I also ran across some blurb indicating S&W made some of the 940's with a tapered barrel and "had some problems". The 9mm generates close to 357 magnum pressures. The cylinder should handle it, but I'm not so sure about the barrel.

Hey koz! How are you liking that PC940? Sometimes I think I should have kept it.

The regular 940 will not chamber the 356TSW because the case length is 21.5mm vs 19mm for the 9mm Luger and the chambers are cut so that the round headspaces on the case mouth. Of course, if you own a 940 you could always have the chambers reamed to accommodate the 356TSW. Back when they were being sold new a number of folks were having their 940s cut to take .38 Super.

I've been carrying a 360J for several years that was rechambered to 9mm (9x23) and cut for moonclips by Pinnacle High Performance Guns (I've posted about it a bunch of times). I shoot mostly 9mm out of it but also .38 Super and 9x23 Winchester. It will handle a number of other cartridges as well - .38ACP, 356TSW, 9mm Largo, etc. Once a .38 or .357 gun has been reamed to accommodate 9mm you don't want to shoot .38s/.357s through it anymore as they will, at minimum, bulge and, at worse (with hotter loads), split the cases.

I've never tried .380 in my gun, never had any interest in the caliber. I would imagine you would run the risk of case bulging and splitting in the 940 since the chamber is tapered and the .380 has a straight walled case. Maybe not though, if the cases are strong enough, I don't have any bulging issues in my gun with .38 Super or 9x23.

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Don't kiss smiling dogs!

Resizing back to 380 may be fun as well. I doubt if the brass would take too many reloads...unless you sized it with a 9mm die. But...I guess why bother since the price difference between the 9x19 and the 380 makes it more economical to shoot 9mm. The 380 is about as prolific and available as 22 and likely 9mm Luger for that matter.

I don't have a gun in the house that shoots 380...but my neighbor does....think I'll go pay Ray a visit and borrow a handful. I am not a doomsday prepper, but I like to know what you could shoot if you had to. Like the 32ACP in a 32 revolver. I won a beer off a bet on that very thing last week.

Don't go purchase a box of 380 to see if it works. I borrowed a few rounds from my neighbor and like mentioned above, the moon-clips will not hold the 380. Unless you have three hands and 15-fingers to stuff 5-rounds in the cylinder....it ain't worth the effort. I suppose in a tight, I would look for a sharp stick as opposed to try and effectively shoot 380 from my 940.

I'm one of those that you've probably read. Let's see if I can get the wretched search feature to pull up some stuff:

How about this one:

.380 ACP in a 940? Why, yes! Yes, you can.

ETA: that worked!

I carry +P+s in the thing, but they're as bad in recoil as .357 Magnums in a J frame. Which is to say that skin will be removed in short order...Less muzzle flash, though!